Spirit-level.



E. A. MARX, W. H. LUTES, H. G.SWEET & F. L. HAND. SPIRIT LEVEL.

APPLICATION men JULY 20. 1916 l ,26U,229 Patented Mar. 19, 1918.

'ilhlTTEl dTAf ES PATENT @FFTQE;

EMIL A. MARX, WILLIAM H. LU'IES, rrenonn e. swnnr, AND FRANK L. HAND, 0F "ROYAL CENTER, INDIANA.

SPIRIT-LEVEL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented- Mar. 19, 1918.

Application filed July 20, 1916. Serial No. 110,339.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, EMIL A. MARX, -WIL- LIAM H. Lu'rns, HAROLD G. SWEET, and FRANK L. HAND, citizens of the United States, residing at Royal Center, in the county of Cass and State of Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Spirit-Levels, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention pertains to spirit levels; and ithas for its object the provision of improved means for securing a tube holder in the stock or body of the level, whereby on turning the tube-holder through a quarter of a circle the device as a whole will become level or plumb.

To the attainment of the foregoing, the invention consists in the novel combination of elements, relatively arranged and connected as hereinafter described and definitely claimed.

In the accompanying drawings which are hereby made a part hereof:

Figure l is a side elevation of so much of a spirit level as is necessary to illustrate the best practical embodiment of the present invention as yet devised.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section taken in the plane indicated by the line 22 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 3 is a transverse section taken in the plane of the line 33 of Fig. 1.

Similar numerals of reference designate corresponding parts in all of the views of the drawings.

The stock or body 1 of the level may be made of wood or metal or other material in the discretion of the manufacturer. It is provided with a transverse aperture 2 of circular configuration, and is also, when made of metal, provided with two threaded bores 3 which extend from the circular aperture to one edge of the stock or body 1 where they merge into countersinks 4. The said bores are for the reception of screws 5 the heads of which are designed to rest in the countersinks 4:, flush with or slightly inside of the adjacent edge of the stock or body so as not to interfere with the regular use of the device.

Mounted in the circular aperture 2 of the stock or body 1 is the tube holder 6 of the device. The said tube holder is annular in form and preferably of metal. The tube 7 is arranged diametrically in the holder; one end of the tube being socketed in the holder at one side of the opening thereof, and the other end of the tube being disposed in an aperture in the opposite portion of the holder and there secured by plaster of Paris or other suitable plastic material.

Formed in the perimeter of the holder (3 and arranged at opposite sides of a line extending through the transverse center of the tube 7 are two circumferential recesses 8 which describe parts of a circle and are de signed to receive the inner end portions of the screws 5 in such manner that by turning the holder 6 through a quarter of a cirole the device becomes level or plumb. When desired, the recesses 8 may be d'u-'- plicated at 8 in the perimeter of the holder 6, in order that the holder may be placed in the aperture 2 with either of its recessed portions presented to the screws 5, and also to render the holder cheap and light in weight.

It will also be noted that we utilize the radial projections 10 between the duplicate sets of recesses 8 as sockets for the reception and support of the end portions of the spirit tube 7 one of the sockets being closed at its outer end and the other being open and be ing designed to be closed by plastic material, as shown, after the tube is introduced endwise into the holder. This specific construction, it will be noted, contributes materially to the cheapness 0f the device inasmuch as it is simply necessary for the accommodation of the spirit tube to provide a diametrical bore in the holder and leave one end of said bore open to receive plastic material after the tube 7 is moved to position.

To assemble the parts of the device, it is simply necessary to move the holder 6 latorally into the aperture 2 of the body or stock 1, and then turn the screws 5 into the recesses 8 of the holder when the holder will be held in the stock or body in the manner and for the urpose described.

The tube may be and preferably is of the usual spirit containing type since it 7967" 86 forms no part of the present invention. It is also to be understood that the said tube 7 may be secured in the holder 6 in any ap proved manner; the specific mode of fastening the tube alluded to being but one practical embodiment of fixing the tube in the holder.

It will be manifest from the foregoing that notwithstanding the disposition of the inner portions of the screws 5 in the holder recesses 8, the holder is capable of being turned about its axis through a quarter of a V circle for the purpose hereinbefore set forth,

' that notwithstanding the capacity of function ascribed to the novel spirit level constituting the subject of this specification, the said level is simple and inexpensive in construction and is well adapted to withstand the usage to which spirit levels are ordinarily subjected. v I

The construction herein specifically defined is the best practical embodiment of the device so far devised. It is to be understood,however, that in the future practice of the invention such changes or modifications may be made as fairly fall within the scope of the appendedclaim.

Having described our invention, what we claim and desire to secure'byLetters Pat ent, is:

In a spirit level, the combination of a stock having a circular transverse aperture, screws bearing in the stock and disposed tangentially to said aperture and having inner end portions arranged in the aperture, a circular spirit-level holder snugly arranged and movable about its axis in the aperture of the stock and having twopairs of circumferential recesses in its periphery and also having radial protuberances be-V tween the pairs of recesses and sockets in said protuberances; one of said sockets being open at its outer end, a spirit tube arranged with its end portions in said sockets, and means closing the outer end of one socket.

In testimony whereof we affix ,our signa tures in presence of two witnesses.

Witnesses V OLIVER P; BEHNY, DAVID SUTTEN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C. v 

